Learn to delegate or lose your business

When it comes to delegating, I’ll be the first to admit I suck at it. Until recently, I’ve always believed the lie that if I want something done right, I’ve got to do it myself. And I don’t think I’m alone. I think a lot of entrepreneurs struggle with delegation. We tell ourselves, no one can do something the way we want it done or nobody will care as much as we do.

The truth is, if we don’t master delegation, we will never succeed in business to the level we want to. We are all limited by time. We all have the same 24 hours in a day. So why does it seem like the top entrepreneurs accomplish so much more in a day than we do? That’s right! They are masters at delegating. Don’t believe me? Here’s what they have to say about delegating.

“If you really want to grow as an entrepreneur, you’ve got to learn to delegate”. – Richard Branson

“Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.” – General George S. Patton

“Hire people who are better than you are, then leave them to get on with it.” – David Ogilvy

Like I said at the beginning of this post, delegating is something I’m working on getting better at. I’m certainly no expert. So instead of trying to tell you how to master delegation, I decided to search the web for the best tips and collect them all here.

In Business You Must Delegate to Succeed

Ask yourself these questions:

What am I doing that it would be better, faster and more cost-effective for someone else to do?

What are 3 things you can delegate to others, or pay for others to do?

What would be best for me to stop doing? In other words, what are the tasks that are simple enough to delegate, or are tasks are not in your wheelhouse (such as bookkeeping, legal work, filing, faxing, copying, etc.)?

Why Aren’t you delegating?

Delegation is a critical skill. “Your most important task as a leader is to teach people how to think and ask the right questions so that the world doesn’t go to hell if you take a day off,” says Jeffrey Pfeffer, the Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business and author of What Were They Thinking?: Unconventional Wisdom About Management.

Delegation benefits managers, direct reports, and organizations. Yet it remains one of the most underutilized and underdeveloped management capabilities. A 2007 study on time management found that close to half of the 332 companies surveyed were concerned about their employees’ delegation skills. At the same time, only 28% of those companies offered any training on the topic.

There you have it! I hope you enjoyed these tips on delegating and will work on following them in your business.

Which tips stood out the most to you? Comment below and let us know.

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About the author, Brent

Brent is a social media marketing consultant and founder of Smart.Strategic.Social. in Frisco, TX. He has 15 years experience in graphic design and advertising as well as certifications with Digital Marketer and Hootsuite. Brent is also the co-founder of the Impactful Entrepreneurs Community on Facebook where growing entrepreneurs can connect and collaborate with other business owners.